Life Counseling, Anxiety Therapy
Erica Warshawer
How to Know if You Suffer from Social Anxiety ...

You’ve probably heard of social anxiety. It’s a term used loosely at times when someone isn’t in the mood to socialize. However, not always being in the mood to socialize is normal. But true social anxiety is much more than that.

Social anxiety disorder is characterized by a fear of being judged by others, feeling highly self-conscious in social situations, and avoiding meeting new people. It’s also known as social phobia. Social anxiety disorder makes it hard to create meaningful connections with others. It can even make it hard for people to complete everyday tasks.

How to Know if You Suffer from Social Anxiety and What to Do About It
Life Counseling, Anxiety Therapy, Depression Therapy
Erica Warshawer
Reducing Your Mental Health Symptoms: How ...

Mindfulness has become a trendy word. Please do not mistake that for a negative. The concept of staying present is a fundamental form of self-care. In the realm of mental health, it has countless benefits for serious practitioners. Practicing mindfulness has been shown to help people struggling with conditions and issues like:

  • Anxiety

  • Chronic pain

  • Depression

  • Addiction

  • Suicidal ideation

More recently, mindfulness is making a difference for those dealing with trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since trauma is something that gets you stuck in the past, this approach makes a whole lot of sense. Let’s learn more:

Reducing Your Mental Health Symptoms: How Mindfulness Can Make a Difference
Teletherapy
Erica Warshawer
Telehealth After the Pandemic? Why Online ...

Until last year, telehealth was mostly a niche approach to therapy. It was incredibly helpful for someone who was disabled or lived far from any therapist. Along came the pandemic and the need for teletherapy exploded. For a while, the only way a client could meet with their counselor was via video chat (or phone call).

Today, with nearly 17 months of experience under our belts, many Americans have discovered a preference for telehealth. The numbers below will help illustrate this trend. In other words, online options still make sense. In some ways, they are here to stay.

Telehealth After the Pandemic? Why Online Options May Still Make Sense
Anxiety Therapy
Erica Warshawer
How You Can Calm Anxiety in Five Simple Steps

If you’re one of the 40 million Americans living with an anxiety disorder, you already know it’s much more than feeling nervous. Everyone worries or panics from time to time. That’s normal. Anxiety is something that impairs your ability to function. It feels as if it’s out of your control.

From intense discomfort at social events to sleep-altering nightmares, anxiety disorders are a daunting reality. Among other things, they may have you dealing with sweaty palms, digestive issues, body trembling, or self-isolation. Whatever uncomfortable symptoms you face, they can be managed and calmed by committing to some basic self-help steps.

How You Can Calm Anxiety in Five Simple Steps
Depression Therapy, Life Counseling
Erica Warshawer
Strategies for Staying Emotionally Healthy ...

Anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of (first) marriages end in divorce. The odds are that you or someone close to you has had to endure this painful experience. Still, let’s be clear, in many cases, a divorce is a traumatic event. Your body, mind, and spirit will be severely challenged. That reality deserves care and attention.

Women, in particular, are at higher risk for depression. Why? They tend to handle the lion’s share of domestic duties and often have fewer financial options than men. For almost every person involved, especially if children are involved, divorce is a time of turmoil and drastic change. That’s why it’s so important to safeguard your well-being as this process plays out.

Strategies for Staying Emotionally Healthy During the Divorce Process

How You Can Calm Anxiety in Five Simple Steps

How You Can Calm Anxiety in Five Simple Steps

If you’re one of the 40 million Americans living with an anxiety disorder, you already know it’s much more than feeling nervous. Everyone worries or panics from time to time. That’s normal. Anxiety is something that impairs your ability to function. It feels as if it’s out of your control.

From intense discomfort at social events to sleep-altering nightmares, anxiety disorders are a daunting reality. Among other things, they may have you dealing with sweaty palms, digestive issues, body trembling, or self-isolation. Whatever uncomfortable symptoms you face, they can be managed and calmed by committing to some basic self-help steps.

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6 Simple Ways to Meet Your Needs and Your New Baby’s Too

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6 Simple Ways to Meet Your Needs and Your New Baby’s Too

They may have invented the word “paradox” specifically for this scenario. Your dream has come true. You just had your first baby. Meanwhile… you’ve never felt more stressed or confused in your entire life. How in the world will you balance out all these highs and lows?

You have been tasked with a dual mission. Of course, your top priority is to meet the needs of your new baby. Yet somehow, you cannot and must not neglect your own needs. The goal is not perfection. You won’t always get in right. But, rest assured, you will find ways to make this work.

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Strategies for Staying Emotionally Healthy During the Divorce Process

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Strategies for Staying Emotionally Healthy During the Divorce Process

Anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of (first) marriages end in divorce. The odds are that you or someone close to you has had to endure this painful experience. Still, let’s be clear, in many cases, a divorce is a traumatic event. Your body, mind, and spirit will be severely challenged. That reality deserves care and attention.

Women, in particular, are at higher risk for depression. Why? They tend to handle the lion’s share of domestic duties and often have fewer financial options than men. For almost every person involved, especially if children are involved, divorce is a time of turmoil and drastic change. That’s why it’s so important to safeguard your well-being as this process plays out.

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3 Tips to Mend a Breach of Trust in Your Marriage and Reconnect

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3 Tips to Mend a Breach of Trust in Your Marriage and Reconnect

Trust is not always an easy thing to build in a relationship. When you trust someone, you feel comfortable, safe, and secure in your individual life and relationship. Though it takes time to build this trust, the sense of security makes it all worthwhile. Because trust is such a delicate thing, it can be detrimental to a relationship when it’s broken. Many couples struggle to reestablish trust in their relationship once a breach occurs and ultimately choose to go their separate ways.

While a breach of trust can be difficult to work through, it doesn’t mean that your relationship is doomed. If you want to make your relationship work after a breach of trust, there are three keys to focus on to help reconnect and reestablish trust.

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Talking About Puberty: The Most Important Topics to Review with Your Child

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Talking About Puberty: The Most Important Topics to Review with Your Child

As with so many things, talking about puberty with your kids is essential to do ahead of time. It’s all too easy to put it off or avoid talking about it altogether.

But your kids are never too young for simple, age-appropriate discussions about their bodies. Like it or not, kids often begin hearing about sex from classmates in early elementary school.

Even if you feel awkward, introducing necessary physiological information when they’re toddlers and preschoolers builds a foundation for the future.

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Exploring These 3 Types of Emotional Burnout

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Exploring These 3 Types of Emotional Burnout

We’re often more tuned into bodily sensations than emotional cues. No one needs to tell you when you feel exhausted. You’ll probably take a break a sit down long before anyone comments. But emotional burnout is trickier. You can feel mentally worn out but not recognize yourself as such.

Burnout is often in response to factors at work, school, or in your personal life (or all three). Other elements at play could be related to your finances or physical health issues. When going through major life changes, you are especially at risk for emotional burnout in all its guises.

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What is “Financial Baggage”? And How Can a Financial Therapist Help?

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What is “Financial Baggage”? And How Can a Financial Therapist Help?

Money isn’t just about numbers. It can sometimes be all about emotions. A recent survey reported that 74 percent of respondents feel their debt has a negative impact on their mental health. Another study found a 300 percent increase in mental health problems among people who are in debt.

Money is a very personal issue. We each see it differently and we each hold different values towards our finances. What those values are may depend on, for example:

  • Cultural background

  • Upbringing

  • Educational level

  • Career choices

If our financial values do not match up with our current financial situation, it becomes a struggle. Most likely, no one has taught us how to cope with this struggle. This creates “financial baggage.”

What is “Financial Baggage”?

In a way, financial baggage exposes our relationship with money. In financial-based situations, we may feel certain emotions and/or memories rising to the surface. More generally, we may recognize patterns developing around economic issues. These patterns develop into what we call financial baggage and may include variations on themes like:

  • Spending as a form of self-soothing

  • Spending impulsively and spending money as soon as you get it

  • Hoarding money

  • Fixation and regret related to past financial decisions

  • Continuing to make the same decisions despite your regret

  • Ignoring bills

  • Relationship fights surround different money values

As you can plainly see, financial baggage can get us stuck in ever-repeating cycles. Also, of course, it can land us deep in debt without the skills needed to turn things around. Thankfully, we have the emerging field of financial therapy — a blend of economics and mental health.

What is a Financial Therapist?

We’re not talking about a financial advisor here. A financial therapist is not giving financial advice but rather, helping us discover why we make the money-based choice we do. After all, before we can create a new budget, we must create a new mindset.

Sessions with a financial therapist provide us with a safe space. While money topics may typically lead us into despair, anxiety, or denial, financial therapy helps us understand these reactions and emotions.

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What to Do If the Pandemic Brought Key Relationship Problems to Your Attention

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What to Do If the Pandemic Brought Key Relationship Problems to Your Attention

When the pandemic started, most of the focus was on the victims of the virus. Time passed and lockdowns ensued. We then talked more and more about other forms of fallout. From economic crises to political division, the collateral damage spread. Now, here we are, well over a year later.

Assessing the cost of Covid-related actions has expanded into the realm of our collective emotional health. More specifically, months of uncertainty put some major stress on all of our relationships. Many of us are realizing that the pandemic pressure we endured brought some deeper relationship issues bubbling to the surface.

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Career Motivation: How to Keep Your Drive During the Summer Months

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Career Motivation: How to Keep Your Drive During the Summer Months

It can be hard to stay motivated during the warm summer months. When the temperatures go up, your career drive can often go down.

Many of us would rather be outside than at our desks. And with kids out of school and families taking vacations at every turn, it can feel extra difficult to head to the office every day.

If you would prefer the pool to your office water cooler, you are not alone. Unfortunately, work continues year-round, and it is important to find ways to remain motivated and avoid the summer blues.

Below are several tips and tricks on how to keep your career drive alive during the summer:

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Prepared for Parenthood: What to Know & How to Plan

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Prepared for Parenthood: What to Know & How to Plan

Parenting is quite a paradox. So, so many people do it. Yet, very few ever appear to be prepared for what it entails. This might be because entering parenthood is as life-changing as it gets. How does one fully plan to have everything turned upside down?

You’ll have less money, time, privacy, sex, energy, sleep, and more. Meanwhile, you will be presented with more responsibility than you may ever face in your entire life. So yeah, it sounds daunting but this does not mean you can’t be as ready as possible. You’ll need teamwork, commitment, and self-awareness to make that happen.

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Uniquely Woman: Inspiration for Finding a Strength All Your Own

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Uniquely Woman: Inspiration for Finding a Strength All Your Own

“I am woman, hear me roar.”

Helen Reddy caused quite a stir when she released that song in 1971. Unfortunately, in 2021 – 40 years later, women are still fighting for equality in everything from the workplace to relationships.

While it might be easier to be a woman today than in the past, there are still inequalities that can make everyday life feel overwhelming at times. That has lead to some women trying to carry themselves more like men, rather than embracing their unique womanhood.

The reality is, women won’t be seen as equals if they’re changing their habits to be more like their male counterparts.

Instead, it’s important to focus on finding your strength on your own, as a woman.

If you’re finding that to be easier said than done, find things that inspire you to boost that strength.

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6 Ways to Relieve Built-Up Stress During Home Renovations

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6 Ways to Relieve Built-Up Stress During Home Renovations

The walls have been stripped down to the studs, the kitchen is an explosion of pipes and wires, and let’s not even get started with the bathrooms!

The words “remodeling your home” and “stress” seem to go hand-in-hand.

Remodeling is certainly a big commitment, both in time and finances. Plus you never quite know what to expect when you strip your house to the bones. There could be mold, insects, dry rot, etc.

However, managing your remodeling stress is not much different than other kinds of stress. Only this time you have sledgehammers!

How You Can Calm Anxiety in Five Simple Steps

How You Can Calm Anxiety in Five Simple Steps

If you’re one of the 40 million Americans living with an anxiety disorder, you already know it’s much more than feeling nervous. Everyone worries or panics from time to time. That’s normal. Anxiety is something that impairs your ability to function. It feels as if it’s out of your control.

From intense discomfort at social events to sleep-altering nightmares, anxiety disorders are a daunting reality. Among other things, they may have you dealing with sweaty palms, digestive issues, body trembling, or self-isolation. Whatever uncomfortable symptoms you face, they can be managed and calmed by committing to some basic self-help steps.

Leaving the Quarantine Behind: How to Re-establish Me Time and We Time

Leaving the Quarantine Behind: How to Re-establish Me Time and We Time

You quarantined with your partner for a long time. After hibernating together through months of cold and snow, you weathered the shorter days and longer nights, as well as COVID constraints. Now, it’s time to break out and get some breathing room, so to speak.

Let’s face it, at first, you thought being together all the time might be OK, even fun. But now you’re over it and you’re ready to see some new people and enjoy the warm weather!

While your feelings are understandable, do remember that the goal is not to break up with your partner and we still have a ways to go before we can gather together as safely as we used to. So, be good to yourself and kind to your partner as you re-enter the world.

Here’s how you can get some space in your relationship and still have fun as we gradually start to gather again:

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How to Reduce Test Anxiety During Finals Season

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How to Reduce Test Anxiety During Finals Season

Most students eagerly await long holiday breaks. But in order to get to the break, they usually have to go through finals season first. For many students, this is a stressful time. After all, a lot rides on these finals. They’ll be reviewing several months’ worth of material, likely not just in one class, but in several.

The grades they get may determine their acceptance into specialized programs. Achieving even a passing grade may also be a cause of anxiety for some students.

So it’s understandable that many teens experience test anxiety. Fortunately, there are steps they can take to better manage these feelings.

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Anticipatory Loss: Living with the Losses that Lie Ahead

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Anticipatory Loss: Living with the Losses that Lie Ahead

Everyone experiences grief. Not enough people are willing to talk about it. Death remains a somewhat taboo topic even here in the twenty-first century. It’s just not socially acceptable to express feelings like bereavement and mourning. More forbidden is any discussion of anticipatory loss.

You see, some losses are known about in advance. For example, a loved one may be diagnosed with a terminal illness. Hence, the grieving process commences before death — sometimes well before death. You grieve the looming loss, of course. In addition, you may be in pre-mourning for all the other changes that the death will set into motion.

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Combating COVID Anxiety: 6 Tips to Effectively Rein In Unhelpful Thoughts and Emotions

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Combating COVID Anxiety: 6 Tips to Effectively Rein In Unhelpful Thoughts and Emotions

Far too many people have been infected with COVID-19. Many more people have been stricken with COVID anxiety and the results are building into a tidal wave.

  • Will I get sick?

  • What about my family and loved ones?

  • Will I weather the financial turmoil?

  • Why does the country feel so divided?

These are just a few of vexing questions on the minds of Americans. It’s no wonder that so many of us feel at the mercy of unhelpful thoughts and emotions.

Life in Transition: 5 Ways to Navigate Unexpected Changes and Thrive

Life in Transition: 5 Ways to Navigate Unexpected Changes and Thrive

Life in transition. That phrase basically sums up the first half of 2020, huh? By all accounts, there are more transitions on their way. In many, if not most, instances, we have little or no control over the events that alter our lives. Unexpected changes can, therefore, throw us for quite a loop.

It is an essential life skill to learn how to best navigate transitions and still manage to thrive on the other end. Such life skills are attainable through a committed combination of self-care and professional help.

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What You Can Do to Maximize Your Teletherapy Sessions

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What You Can Do to Maximize Your Teletherapy Sessions

As the country vacillates between re-opening and re-closing, we’re all getting more and more comfortable with long-distance communication. Work, school, social time, etc. — it’s a time to re-invent our interactions in the name of safety and physical health. But it’s also a time when our mental health may feel threatened in new ways. In an age of social distancing and conflicting agendas, how can we take safe steps to guard both our physical and mental wellbeing? The answer is “teletherapy.”